Fremantle/Federal Election 2025
OUTSTANDING GREEN LIGHT CANDIDATES
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You can learn about how to effectively use Traffic Light Voting Guides for the upcoming Federal election by following this link to our video and familiarising yourself with its instructions:
Here’s how you can make climate a compelling issue locally.
Hand out Traffic Light A5 How to Vote cards at polling booths. Phone or text 0427 580 803 to arrange for print ready artwork tailored for your electorate. You can then print the How to Vote card using your home printer or for larger numbers use the services of a commercial printer.
This is particularly effective to help add extra reach to Green Light independent campaigns and draw in swinging voters. Vote Climate One’s assessment of candidates has the elevated status of being fiercely independent.
Check out our how our team Federally assesses Candidates and Parties
Green Light Candidates
Kate Hewlett
I am a local business owner, and my retail store, Kate and Abel, has been part of the streetscape in Fremantle for the past 11 years – we might have even chatted there before! I live around the corner from my shop, and I’m a longstanding advocate for building a smarter, more liveable and more vibrant Fremantle.
I hold a Psychology Degree from UWA, and following uni, I lived abroad for over a decade, working for many years in strategic communications for the London Underground and boutique agencies. More recently I’ve worked with the Fremantle Biennale and Fremantle Design Week, and I am co-founder of Freo DoC – the local Town Team (which has just been awarded $100,000 for an ambitious rewilding project!).
I have also owned a Fremantle cafe, have been nominated for the Fremantle Community Citizen of the Year, and I ran Australia’s largest temporary space activation project – MANY 6160 – in Fremantle’s vacant Myer Department store as an initiative of local business Spacemarket.
I am a founder of the Fremantle Culture Council, and sit on the City of Fremantle’s Destination Marketing Working Group. I have exhibited twice in Sculpture by the Sea, been awarded for photography, and am about to publish a book of Fremantle photography.
HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
In the last days of 2024, I was invited by the grassroots community group, Voices for Fremantle, to run as an Independent Candidate for the state seat of Fremantle in the WA State Election.
V4Freo had previously led a six-month community consultation process, which uncovered a strong desire from the community for better representation and better outcomes. It has only become clearer to me since saying yes to running just how deep and widespread Fremantle’s frustrations with politics as usual are.
Our groundbreaking state campaign made Fremantle a true battleground, and a referendum on Labor’s record. The verdict from the Fremantle community was resounding, and I was again asked by the community to continue the momentum and take Fremantle’s desire for better representation all the way to Canberra.
Fremantle is proudly independent, and it makes sense that we would be represented by a Community Independent candidate – not someone beholden to a political party, based somewhere else in the country.
I believe we deserve leadership that is not only passionate and courageous but also deeply connected to the people it serves. We deserve a future that reflects our values, and I am committed to working with all of you to make that vision a reality.
Josh Last (Socialist Alliance)
Josh is a passionate advocate for social justice and a homegrown Fremantle musician. With a professional background in IT, he is now studying to be a primary school teacher.
“There is no need for poverty and a housing affordability crisis in Australia as corporations make record profits”, explains Josh.
Josh, who has worked in agriculture and seasonal tourism, led a successful campaign by the Australian Workers Union against multinational corporations in the ski industry. Seeing vulnerable workers face extreme housing insecurity in sub-zero temperatures, wages below the poverty line and abuse in the workplace; he was galvanised to fight for all workers.
“Our agricultural land and mineral assets are transformed by the labour of Australian workers into incredible wealth, so why aren’t our lives getting easier? Why don’t we have more time to relax, to spend with our friends and families? The wealth that we create is being stolen from us by corporations that pay little or no tax while our wages stagnate”.
Josh was drawn into activism for Palestine when the federal government cut funding to starving children in Palestine and our current MP disseminated misinformation about our bilateral military ties with Israel. “That’s why I want to be a teacher! Kids are bright, thoughtful and empathetic, and they put the adults to shame”, Josh added.
“We are at a turning point in our history. Are we going to let the Labor-Liberal duopoly enable war crimes? Does anyone really think it’s possible to combat the climate crisis if we let them waste hundreds of billions on AUKUS and try to provoke a war with China? The biggest threat to the well being of working people in this country does not come from across the oceans but from the boardrooms on St George’s Terrace”.
Josh’s optimism and faith in humanity gives him confidence that despite the challenges, we can build a better future together.
Amy Warne (Greens)
I first moved to Freo a few decades ago. At that time, I was already committed to doing my bit for the climate: composting, riding my e-cargo bike and waterwise gardening. I felt virtuous and thought my individual actions were enough.
But by the time I had my child, it became painfully clear that tackling this mother of all crises, climate change, needed all of us. I started working at the community level in local government and volunteering at my local community garden – something I remain committed to. My interest in politics and activism snowballed from there, and I eventually joined both Extinction Rebellion and the incredible grassroots campaign that stopped Roe 8 from destroying our beautiful Beeliar Wetlands.
My worldview has also been deeply influenced by the year I spent in the US on exchange at age 17. I remember being shocked at what I saw: people thinking twice about seeking healthcare due to the cost, my friends considering crippling debt just to get a degree, and the rampant homelessness in some of the world’s wealthiest cities. I felt so fortunate knowing that where I was from, there was no such drastic divide between rich and poor because the government took care of its people.
But 30 years on, I’m dismayed to see Australia is in almost exactly the same situation. Over this time, the two major parties have slowly been seduced by big business. Hundreds of poor political decisions have been made, which have prioritised corporate profits at our expense.
I love the Freo community too much not to fight for something better. And I put my hand up to run for the Greens because it turns out we’re the only party offering real solutions to the problems so many of us face right now.
Fremantle is such a unique place, and deserves a federal representative who can tackle our unique challenges – from the devastating plan to close down our historic port to the unacceptable threat of nuclear submarines on our doorstep. We need someone who’ll take the major parties to task over their failure to deliver all those services and safety nets that once made me so proud.
TRAFFIC LIGHT VOTING GUIDE ASSESSMENT WARNING
The team at Vote Climate One may change our Traffic Light voting advice right up to shortly before election day. For instance it is very difficult to access ranking information from parties or candidates who have no public email, phone number or little internet profile. In these cases, we apply the precautionary principle with a Red Light ranking until further information and commitment to climate rescue comes to hand.
Please contact us if you have local information which could effect our rankings. Phone Rob 0n 0427 580 803
The major parties have let the Australian public down when it comes a serious policy commitment to action on the ecological and climate crisis. Consequently, we have assessed both the Labor party and the Coalition as Red Light parties. Nevertheless, in relation to our Traffic Light Voting guides, the Labor party has been ranked orange ahead of the Coalition which remains a stubborn Red Light proposition.
The House of Representitives
Labor is ranked Orange for the House of Reps. The opportunity for a Green Transition, sparked by the influence of a progressive cross bench holding the balance of power in a Labor minority government, is our bet bet for climate rescue.
The Senate
Likewise our senate Traffic Light Voting Guides also promote Labor ahead of the Coalition using an Orange Light status. This stategy will help discourage the worst senario for climate action which would result from a combative Coalition/right wing party majority in the senate.